While the City Manager’s office has not shared the official version of this proposal, here’s why ANY proposal to alter the use of this property is a bad idea:
* Open green space is a precious resource in our over-asphalted city. It’s our land, our air, our trees and wildlife. You don’t give it away.
* It’s heavily used. Athletic leagues that depend on it it: Worcester Youth Soccer, Jesse Burkett Little League and AAA players, and Worcester World Cup. Ordinary residents that use it: runners, walkers, people with their dogs, parents and kids tossing balls, children building big snowmen. Hikers use the trails in the woodlands above the fields in all seasons.
* Children attend Chandler Magnet. As of this October, that student body is 88.1% low income, 71% Latino, and 63% English Language Learners. Many of these kids are bused in from low-income neighborhoods, and their school is their only access to fresh air and green space.
* Any proposal that has cars driving all around the school these children attend jeopardizes their safety, health, and their learning. Increased traffic immediately around that school is an accident waiting to happen. The fumes and exhaust from those vehicles will impair their brain development. The noise and distraction from hundreds of students passing is not going to be good for their concentration.
Save The Chandler Magnet Ball Fields 